A Year in Review

I know it's only May, but things are coming around full circle for me which has lead me to a good deal of reflecting lately.
I left my job as a youth minister to move home with the intent of going back to school. My childhood dream of being a wildlife biologist was still hanging out there, so I figured why not. After a few classes and the realization that I love wildlife but not all the crap you have to go through to study and work with them, I've moved on from that.
I'll admit that I've missed ministry. With many people I know in ministry having full knowledge that I'm still around I figured I'd still be able to do a bit. But nobody contacted me for help and the closest I got was being a confirmation sponsor. I still don't know how to take that.
So for the past few months I've been searching for direction. I've applied for jobs in the Midwest with the basic knowledge that there are jobs out there and a lot more Catholic young adults. I've formulated a few possibilities of what I can do, but haven't gotten any answers yet.
A couple weeks ago I got a call from my summer time boss who works for the diocese. He told me one of the largest parishes in our diocese was looking for a youth minister and getting to the point of being desperate. He told me that it was kind of a waste that a person with my skills was going unused in our diocese. That was nice to hear. So I called and talked to the priest and talked to my boss some more. Basically this has just added another possible direction I can go.
In the last few weeks I also got some rejections from positions I applied to in the Midwest. Parishes and Bishops like to keep things local as my boss told me. So having not heard from others positions I applied to coupled with the rejections I figured I could count out moving out of Montana. Then this morning I got a call from a priest in the Midwest. We chatted for a bit, mostly me just telling him about myself. He confirmed that it would be a bit of a culture shock for me but I assured him I was up for the challenge. It was difficult to read his thoughts and feelings about me so quickly, but he asked me if I could fly out for an interview next week. I take that as meaning he's interested, but I informed him I wouldn't be able to do that on such short notice. We agreed to set up a time to Skype for next week.
So now I don't know what to do. I've got options, but I don't know how excited I am to move so far away again. If I feel like I'm needed and could do good things in Midwest I feel like I can't count out doing that even though I'd be leaving a lot behind in Montana.

Things will work out. God is teaching me patience, that is for sure.

One awesome thing I was able to do this past year was to compete in Timbersports for my university. We just finished up the season last week. I've been very blessed to be on a team with great people and to be able to learn things that most people never get a chance to experience.

Here's some pics of the crazy things I've done.

Peace all